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The Apoidean-Cybertronian War?
Apoidea Apoidea, land of cruel, sapient bees is a country of never-ending winter, where snow blankets the ground and the thorny trees are sheathed in ice. The bee aliens, who struggle to find winter-blooming flowers, tend to be very expansionist, as a result, and often clash with the other natives of Pony World. There are dark rumours that the worst of the bee aliens even know how make honey from souls. Combatants here may find themselves slipping and sliding in the snow but may be able to use the ice-covered thorns of the trees as improvised weaponry. Contents: *Apoidean Bees *Fortress Maximus *Frozen Thorn *Grimlock *Jetfire *Scattershot *Slag *Sludge *Steeljaw *Swoop Out in the winter of Apoidea, totally ignoring the danger of the famed Winter Bees, Sludge is at play. He's in robot mode, and has just built a snowman in the shape of Ultra Magnus, at least it's meant to be. The arms are about the only sign to who he's building. He's actually getting better as he works, trying to make the edges look nicer. Transforming into his dinosaur mode, he breathes some fire on the snowman, melting it, but also turning some of the exterior into ice. He then transforms back, and begins to very carefully laser some grooves with his electron cannon. Slag is working on his own snowman, as well. Only this one is in the shape of his creator, Wheeljack. He pauses to watch Sludge work. "Me Slag say that no look like Ultra Magnus. It look more like him Huffer." he looks at his own, which looks about as much like Wheeljack as Sludge's does Ultra Magnus. "Me miss Wheeljack. Him only one took us serious." he says, packing on more snow to the torso. A miniature Nepsian building can be seen taking form as its designer, Fortress Maximus, works meticulously at the smallest details as he follows the designs that he had observed over at Nepsa. The general shape of the build has already taken form, freed from its icy prisons by the Headmaster leaders' hands, the finer details like the unique carvings, windows and such are still being worked on. Eventually he looks over to Sludge and smiles approvingly as he watches the Dinobot demonstrating remarkable intelligence in using fire to solidify the snowman's exterior into ice, "Whether if it's Ultra Magnus, or Huffer, I'd say that snow man is still going to be very sturdy. That's great thinking, Sludge." Needless to say Dinobotsitting was not a high thing on Jetfire's to-do list... but he decided it was worth tolerating as it gave him a chance to inspect the 'eternal winter' area of this planet a bit more closely. There's a subtle snapping noise as he breaks off one of the icy thorns and holds it up to watch the frost coat the end of the pinchers he used instead of his hands. "Hmmm. Interesting.... these could actually be applied usefully if one can overcome their tenacity to freeze whatever tries to handle them..." "Everybody take us seriously. But Wheeljack like us too. He good flier too too." A rare bit of wisdom from the "stupid" Dinobot. The face looks pretty good, the shoulders too, but the body really could use work. When Sludge decides it won't work out, it won't do, he transforms and gives it a massive tail strike, "No good, start over, I think." Then, he looks over to Fortress Maximus, who just commended his efforts, "Oh, you like?" He feels bad now, having destroyed what he built. Slag doesn't try to do the fire-to-snow-to-ice trick like Sludge, preferring just to use the snow as it is. The head of his Snow Wheeljack isn't too bad - in fact, it's fairly spot on if not horribly detailed. "Yeah, him taught us Dinobots how to fly. Make us useful against 'ceptycons. Me remember first time they saw us. Him Meggytron got real mad that we flew, then we busted them all up." he nods. Slag, to his credit, isn't being a hateful spiteful being today. He must be in a very good mood. He looks to Fortress Maximus, "What you making?" he asks, looking up at the colossal Autobot. Jetfire looks up from his own musings as Sludge knocks his snowMagnus down to start over. "That's okay Sludge. Now you can do what you did good over, and make what you didn't like better. That's how trial and error works." At least he remembers to keep it simple and in small words for the Dinobots present. The sound of Jetfire snapping off the thorn can be heard audibly, catching Fortress Maximus' attention, "Do you think its properties can be synthesized into something that could be utilized in rapid-construction environments, Jetfire? I have been finally updated with the latest reports on Cybertron" Fortress Maximus pauses as he takes on a more grim expression on his face, "and it looks like our mobile divisions are having trouble establishing remote outposts due to the inability to put up proper defenses in time before the Decepticons move in on the area." With that said, the Headmaster leader takes the conversation onto a lighter tone with Sludge as he makes encouraging comments, "Yeah, I liked it. I'm sure you can build a better on though." A creative Dino is a non-trouble making Dino. Fortress Maximus definitely approves. Responding to Slag, "Oh, just a rough imitation of Nepsian architecture. Wheeljack was a great Autobot. I'm glad you two remember him fondly." Grimlock stomps through! Hey look, Autobots! And...they're making snowmen. Well, it's Sludge, so he's easily entertained. Still, Grimlock hmms- and he gives a grunt and a nod of greeting to his Dinobot troops before he heads on over to Jetfire! Uh oh. "Hey! Hey you Jetfire! You need do SCIENCE STUFF." Jetfire pulls a containment vial out of storage and slips the thorn into it. It causes the sides to frost up a little on the inside, but it's environmentally sealed so it can't do anything worse. "Possibly.. I'm also considering that its rapid freezing effect could be replicated as a means of non-lethal determent of threats." That said he tucks the vial back away, opening his chest/cockpit to slide it into a padded holder so it doesn't rattle around. Then looks up as he pushes himself to his feet when Grimlock comes stomping in. "Technically at the moment I -am-," but he doesn't linger on that point. "What's up, Grimlock?" "Trial and error" Sludge repeats, as if it were a totally alien concept to him. He understands it, at the instinctual level. Stomp the ground and a Decepticon will fall on his aft. When the Decepticon starts flying, if he stomps again, nothing happens. He has to try something new like his fire breath, eye beams, or transform and use his Electron Cannon. Using his face, he begins shaping a slab of snow, creating what will be Ultra Magnus' foot. He doesn't like it, so walks right over it, finding more fresh snow, and tries again. This time he does like it. He breathes some fire on it, melting, and then letting it harden into ice. "Like this Maximus?" Fortress Maximus pauses from his work on the Nepsian ice building that he's carving out to take a good look at what Sludge at done before nodding, "That's exactly it, Sludge! Your snow man would be one of the structurally strongest here if you keep on reinforcing it like that." Uh oh, the Headmaster leader accidentally slipped out more technical terms. That's what happens when you get him going about building things. Grimlock crosses his arms, then he looks over at Jetfire. "Why you need non-lethal? Me Grimlock ALL LETHAL. It best thing ever." he nods at this, and grunts. "But that not portants right now! You Jetfire need go talk to him Perceptor n' look at him glass thingie him get but him Galvatron want so him Perceptor breaked it." he nods at this story, and then adds on: "Just ask him Swoop. Him there too." Slag continues to work on his snowJack, giving a customary grunt to Grimlock and Swoop when they arrive. He listens to what Fortress Maximus is making and nods, saying "right." in his gruff voice, because he has no idea what the Headmaster just said. "Me Slag try to make it all icy now." he transforms and takes a few steps away, then turns around. Opening his mouth, a huge gout of flame erupts and envelops the Snow Wheeljack. There's alot of steam and when it clears, and Slag transforms again, The only thing left is Wheeljack's head, which did indeed turn to ice. Slag scratches his head. "Me Slag melted it all." he says dejectedly. "Because you can't question a molten puddle of parts, that's why Grimlock." But it's pointless to try and argue methods with the Dinocommander... who's got his full attention at the mention of 'glass thing', the scientist's expression turning serious almost immeadiately. "... Another one of those alien lenses?" Jetfire says, "Because you can't question a molten puddle of parts, that's why Grimlock." But it's pointless to try and argue methods with the Dinocommander... who's got his full attention at the mention of 'glass thing', the scientist's expression turning serious almost immeadiately. "... Another one of those alien lenses?" Swoop says, "Me Swoop, Guess so. Just some dumb looking peice of glass to me. But Galvytron seem interested nuff in it to send pierats after us. Then him. Perceptor, decide to blow up glass thingy and made Pierats even madder."" Sludge’s laser core is a sensitive thing, it can only handle so much. If too many new pathways are created too soon, he gets a monumental headache, and giving a Dinobot, even a shy one like Sludge a headache, is a dangerous proposition. Staring blankly back at Fortress Maximus, he says nothing but a long, “Uhhhhh.” And he goes back to his work, making another foot and shin piece for his Ultra Magnus, exactly as he had before. In the middle of it, he asks, “Leader Grimlock, you and Swoop need Sludge and Slag?” Grimlock hmms, and nods. "Yeah, there pirates there too. Him Galvytron 'splode them leader 'fore he surrendereded." he hmms, and scratches at his helmet. "Hn. Me Tell him Perceptor make report." he notes- and then looks on over at Sludge. "Hnn. Me Grimlock not know yet. No septi-cons for smashing!" a pause, and he has to ask: "When truce over? Me Grimlock think smashing guys am good." Slag picks up the icy Wheeljack head, which now as a piece of ice is pretty dead on. "Head all that left." he holds it as if he's about to go on a Shakespearian soliloquy, but of course he's a dinobot so he doesn't. Instead he looks over at Grimlock, holding the head, and says "Me think that good idea. As soon as truce over, we curbstomp some ceptycons good!" Jetfire frowns a bit. "I dislike how often these things have been turning up lately... Yes, reporting it would be good, though I'll have to talk to Perceptor myself as well. If he kept the Decepticons from getting the item intact though, that's good." He sighs a bit... but then smirks a little as he pats Grimlock on the shoulder. "Just a few more days, Grimlock, just a few more days. I think the last two races and a few lingering battles are all the left events." Fortress Maximus watches as Slag's snowJack turn into steam and frowns. Ouch. Tough break. However the Headmaster leader does his best to point to the brighter side of things and encourages Slag, "Well, look at it this way, Slag. Your flame breath is just that strong. Maybe you should use your eye beams instead, it is more precise anyways." Sludge's blank stare and long awkward silence worries Fortress Maximus visibly, but fortunately danger passes without issues as he watches the shy Dinobot go back to work. Fortress Maximus counts this as a potential crisis adverted, the Dinobotsitting continues to go as planned. The Headmaster leader hears about Grimlock's ambitions and says, "I've been getting reports from our troops on the frontlines on Cybertron are having trouble establishing forward outposts due to Decepticon interferences." Grimlock hmmns, and then nods over at Maximus. "Well, me Grimlock say us Dinobots go interfere with them in FACE." he declares eagerly! He hmms, and then glances around- as if to make sure there aren't any Decepticons about to listen in on his SEEKRIT PLAN (whatever it may be). Sludge means well. But between the glitch in his laser core that Wheeljack was never quite able to fix, and the limited intelligence of all the Dinobots, its rare that someone shows respect for any idea he might have. Each Dinobot has dealt with it in their own way. Grimlock became arrogant, Slag hostile, Sludge shy, Snarl lazy, and Swoop outgoing. His Ultra Magnus snowman does seem to be coming along well. Each leg is now on the ground, and looking good. It’s life sized. Next he goes to work on the lower torso, which takes quite a bit of finesse. Slag would never have the patience for it, but Sludge is rather like a creative child, tongue hanging out, deep in thought about his playful work. Slag shrugs, and sits down in the snow, putting the head next to him. "Me Slag bored with building with snow. Me just watch instead." he pauses an dlooks over, "Are 'ceptycons on Cybertron doing this during truce? Is violation? If so we Dinobots can go violate them!" he nods, making perfect sense if to no one but himself. It'd take someone of Sludge's size to make a lifesize one. Heh. Jetfire chuckles a bit at that as the Dinobot continues to work. The pulls his datapad out to make a note to talk to Perceptor later. Not that he doubts the validness of Swoop or Grimlock, but it's best to get the information straight from the source. Sludge next begins working on the torso. His first attempt was just a mass of snow, which he then melted the exterior of, and turned it to ice. This one is modular, each piece being fashioned and then stacked. How he’ll attach the arms will be interesting to say the least. Then, looking at Slag’s Wheeljack head, he asks, “You Slag, you make Magnus head, for me, Sludge?” Swoop hearing talks of plans, Swoop glides over Grimlock and Fort Max. "Plans always good. Plans better when means smashing Septicons good!" Fortress Maximus shakes his head in response to Slag, "They're playing by the rules as far as I can tell, but that also means we are forbidden to take advantage of the situation and reinforce our holdings either. Our own troops could use the temporary break, if only to get their strength back." The large Headmaster leader then nods in agreement with Grimlock, "I'm counting on it. We nearly lost an entire forward engineering team just prior to the Olympics truce, they were overwhelmed before they could even begin laying down the foundations for the outpost. I doubt the Decepticons would be that eager to attack our people with your team protecting them." It was a good decision by Rodimus Prime to encourage Fortress Maximus to focus on the war effort on Cybertron. Between the Autobot leader and Galen's influence, Fortress Maximus is slowly taking steps into being a vital part of the war effort once more. Even if most of his plans does lean heavily on deterrence. Nodding in response to Grimlock and Swoop, "Actually, there is a plan. None of it military, but requires your assistance nevertheless in order for the goals to be realized." The large Headmaster leader process a datachip internally before handling it over to the Dinobot commander, "These are the vital places that we need to establish a line of supply on Cybertron in order to make sure that you guys in military can push further and actually hold territories for the long-term." Grimlock takes up that datachip, and nods. "Hnn. So long as us am doing fighting, not actually, uh, supply-ing." "It means you Dinobots fight so the scientists and engineers don't have to," Jetfire chimes into the conversation. Swoop says, "Yes, Seen how well Sciency types fight..." Swoop says with a soft chuckle. "Need us Dinobots, so you all don't lose heads." He says and then blinks to Fort Max. "Well, more heads..."" Slag is quiet, which usually means he's gone anti-social. In this case, he's just thinking and listening to the others talk. Slag has never been one to talk alot unless he's complaining. In this case, there's really nothing to complain about. Grimlock ooooohs. "That good." he decides, tucking the datapad away. He hmms, and then looks around- noting Sludge's surprisingly involved handiwork. "Hmm. You Sludge be careful, else them gonna make you build base or somethings next! Haw haw!" Fortress Maximus forces a chuckle in response to Swoop, yeah he's heard plenty of head jokes over the short years that he's been back in the ranks. He'll have to live with it. However his tone takes on a grimmer tone as he comments, "These Decepticons attacks have put some of my best engineering teams in critical condition. They don't fight well. They'll think twice about trying to attack the defenseless with Dinobots there to protect them." That sounded unusually proactive from Fortress Maximus, most of it must have come from Galen. The Nebulan leader still hasn't forgotten how passiveness brought disaster to his homeworld and is eager to redeem himself for that. Slag picks up the icy Wheeljack head and contemplates it quietly. He grabs one of those icy thorns Jetfire picked and sits back down, and uses it to carve more detail on the face and head. Jetfire snorts softly at the remark about science-types and fighting... But then remembers all the running gags about his 'cutting edge' hardware blowing up on him and doesn't really say anything. It's partially true anyways, considering he's better off at dealing with rather specific targets than just general fighting. Slag says, "How much longer this truce last, anyway? Most olympic stuffs over, me expect ceptycons to try and pull sneak attack before it all over." Grimlock hms. "Well, us Dinobots gonna make sure you guys get build stuff!" he nods, "Us dinobots am best fighters there is! That right?" he looks at his troops, tilting his chin up in defiant pride. Swoop says, "Wreckers might disagree, but Me, Swoop, know they just Wannabe Dinobots!"" Slag nods, "Grimlock says truth, no one deal damage like us dinobots. We make holes in anything!" Jetfire just shakes his head a bit as the conversation goes back to Dinobots smashing things, and wanders back over to farther inspect the freeze inducing thorns. Fortress Maximus goes back to work on his mini-Nepsian ice building, satisfied with the fact that the Dinobots will be protecting their endeavours on Cybertron he leaves the topic as is. A little carving here, a little notch there. He's definitely doing the Nepsian architectural design justice so far. But what about the bees? This is supposed to be BEE territory. ANGRY EVIL BEES. Bzzz. Sludge has been so quiet. He’s the shy, sensitive type, able to do his thing, and he has. His Ultra Magnus is now complete. And it’s actually quite surprising in how nice it looks. The body looks really good, but that was the easy part. All he has to do is try to get straight lines, and with the ability to burn away excess, it was just a matter of time and patience. He stands there, one hand on his hip, the other is open, holding something up. And it seems that Sludge has put one of the rare flowers to emerge from the snow in his palm. Though, something seems to be hovering around, “Shoo, you go away now. This Magnus flower!” He begins to make noise, a bit of a commotion, as he’s dealing with a swarm that seems to want his flower. Curiosity can be a useful thing. As Steeljaw tends to find out, it can also often turn out to be very painful and/or wet, horrible thing. Though in this case, curiosity turns out to be a very cold, very slippery thing as he was investigating some ice formation near the edge of the territory. Which with one wrong step, quickly turns into an impromptu ice slide. Among the white there's a speeding fleck of gold of a little tape bot sliding down an icy hill. Steeljaw blurrs past, tail first, only to mostly disappear into a snow bank with only his head sticking out. The resulting impact makes more snow tumble down from the rest of the snow hill to cover him up entirely. Jetfire collects a few more of the ice thorns for his studies before turning back to the others. He's about to comment on how good Sludge's construct of snow and ice works, but he's distracted by the tumbling of snow down the side of the hill and a fleck of color amongst the white and blue. ".. Looks like someone got themselves snowed in good," he muses, a bit of a smirk returning as he walks over to investigate." Fortress Maximus is still carving the nook and cranny of his building, thus only gets a small glimpse of what had tumbled pass. Sadly it isn't enough of a glimpse to realize it was Steeljaw. He shoots Jetfire a firm and grim look, "Becareful of the bees." Ooooh ominous. Sludge stops fighting with the bees that seem to want the flower he gave to Ultra Magnus when he hears the mountainside come down. Well, maybe that’s an overstatement, but seeing the tail of Steeljaw poke out, and then disappear, he shouts, “Sludge save you!” He Transforms and begins to prepare his fire breath, but then decides not to. There might be a human like Daniel in there too. With his long neck, he begins to use it as a shovel, moving snow to the left, then the right, trying to uncover the cassette and anyone else in the middle. Slag pitches in, transforming and using his tail to sweep aside snow, but not so fast it would cause damage if it hits someone. "Not only us dinobots smashers, we dinobots good at searchin' rescue!" Watch out for the bees, indeed! The snow mound makes a curious rumbling sound, which could almost be mistaken for a buzzing of bees. Or the growling of a frustrated feline, either way. More likely the growling of a frustrated feline, as Steeljaw's head pokes out of the snow bank once Sludge digs out enough of the snow, his teeth bared in frustration. "Whose smart idea was it to make snow both wet and cold? I'm already starting to RUST!" Sounds like the kitty got into more than he expected. He struggles to crawl out of the remaining snow, aided by the dinobots. "Technically snow in itself is unlikely to cause rust, unless you allow it to actually melt and then sit inside of your joints for an extended period of time, Steeljaw." With the two Dinobots clearing out the snow, Jetfire can just reach over to help pluck the feline out of his icy burial. "What were you doing that far up the hillside, anyways?" Fortress Maximus gets up from his little hobby as he realizes that it's Steeljaw that was trapped, "It's a good thing you didn't wander too far. Apoidea's sentinent bees aren't usually friendly to outsiders." Sludge transforms back into his handsome robot mode now that Steeljaw is safe in Jetfire’s hands. “You be more careful next time. You not so big as us Dino . . .” and he stops himself. Maximus and Jetfire are even bigger. He doesn’t often have to look up at anyone, but here today, he’s middle of the pack. Content that they now have the pollen from the flower that had been placed in Magnus’ hands, the bees move on to the Nepsian building that Maximus had been constructing. It seems they are impressed and decide to go to the source, flying towards the Headmaster, swarming him and trying to drag him back to it. They make a buzzing noise that roughly translates as, "I was following an interesting scent." Held in Jetfire's hand, Steeljaw looks even SMALLER, if that were possible. It is, somehow. "I almost found it, but as you can see, I found something else instead." That being what might be a fun ice slide. Might, if it didn't involve snow and ice. "And are you sure? I think I'm feeling some rust already." Paranoid, he is. Though the buzzing sound nearby catches his attention. "... You mentioned bees?" Fortress Maximus watches in intrigue as the very bees that he had been cautioning the others about makes their appearance by swarming him. Unfortunately the Headmaster leader left his intergalactic superduper universal translator in his office back on the Steelhaven and is oblivious to what the buzzing noise may be. Of course, the tugs and nudges that he's feeling throughout his body doesn't escape his notice either. Waving to the others, Fortress Maximus comments, "It looks like the native bees that I have spoken about has found us! I'll try to establish proper relations through the use of the universal greetings." Coughing a bit, before properly articulating each and every word, Fortress Maximus speaks out, "Bah-weep-gra-na-weep-ni-ni-bun." Jetfire walks over and sets Steeljaw down on a dry, nonmelting outcropping of ice. "I'm sure if you give it a moment or two you'll dry out just fine. You would have to wait until back in warmer climates for a stronger heat source, at least." Jabs a thumb over his shoulder by one of the ice patchs left from the Dinobots melting snow and letting it refreeze. "Or I'd let one of them warm you up." One of the bees seems to hover near Maximus’ face, and it would seem somebody’s tried that line on them before. Buzzing some more, he says in his language, Some bees begin to hover close to Maximus, trying to find any more compartments of stolen property, and the head bee directs, or tries to, with hand gestures. Fortress Maximus begins getting dragged to his Nepsian ice building! Wee! The bees takes the jar of honey. It takes a great many of them to lift it, but they manage. It's a group effort. And the head bee's tone becomes louder, clearly to ensure that Fortress Maximus's friends hear, yes, that must be it. They continue to buzz, Some bees begin to hover close to Maximus, trying to find any more compartments of stolen property, and the head bee directs, or tries to, with hand gestures. Sludge asks, “Why you carry honey inside you, Maximus? We no need food, we have energon.” It does seem like an odd thing for an Autobot to carry willy-nilly, but Sludge will not dwell on it anymore. Then, as he hears Jetfire’s suggestion, he asks, “Sludge help build more if bees want that?” Jetfire uuuhs, taking a scooch back himself. If those bees can drag Maximus around, they're not going to be easy to trifle with. "... I don't think that's going as well as you intended." Though he's just extrapulating by the aggrevated motions of the bees, he's not really -sure- of what they're trying to say. "Where's Beachcomber and his studies on biological lifeforms when you need him... Maybe Galen likes honey on his cereal?" he tries to answer Sludge, too. There is an expression of genuine surprise on Fortress Maximus' face as he's actually being dragged towards his mini-Nepsian ice building. Who'd thought that a bunch of bees would have that much strength. He nods in agreement with Jetfire as it doesn't look like his attempts at diplomacy is working, "I don't understand it. Why doesn't Kup's textbook example at diplomacy ever work?!" Fortress Maximus grumbles frustratingly before he turns around to look at the Nepsian building that he was working on, "Well, if it does sound like that more buildings is what these bees want, I suppose I can provide them that." He begins using his tools to resume work on the building's surface before looking over to Sludge, "Sure, some help should speed things up." Steeljaw can't understand the language in the slightest. But some of those gestures seem hostile enough for even him to get the gist of. "Not well at all, no." He grunts, keeping himself crouched down. "I don't think that Kup's diplomacy includes bees." Or anything at all, from Steeljaw's experiances. Swoop blinks and looks around, he seemign to have taken a nap while bees attacked. "Me heard that bees talk through dance. Maybe Jetfire need dance for bees?" He offers as advice. The bees seem content, now that Maximus has resumed work on the city, although he has not even had a single building completed. Still, if he should wander off course, they will be there to prod him back to work. They buzz, discussing things amongst themselves. Should any of them be able to crack the language barrier, they seem to be talking about how fat their new slave is, and some are taking bets on whether or not they'll enslave the others too. The leader's name seems to be Bruna. Sludge tries to help, but this is fairly finite work, with the devil in the details. He’s not very good at it, but does try. Only, he seems to be causing more harm than good. While Maximus might appreciate the effort, the bees don’t. He is stung by some kind of electric cattle prod to his aft, which makes him jump up, and oh no, he’s about to stumble into the original structure! Slag doesn't try to help at all. He stays in dino-mode and watches. He looks over to those with him, "Me Slag say them dumb bees making him Fortress Max work like that not right. We should show them bees who boss! Me Slag melt them easy!" he says, tail swooshing back and forth as a sign of aggression. Steeljaw reaches up a paw to rest it over his eyes, as if blocking out the 'carnage' that is soon to follow after Sludge. "Oh, slag. This is not going to turn out well," He mutters, shaking his head slowly. He eyes Slag, teeth grinding a little bit in his own agitation. "Normally I'd agree, but there's a lot of them, Slag. Strength in numbers over us." ".. Not well at all." Jetfire bolts as Sludge stumbles, using his superior dashing speed in robot mode to try and grab the bulky Dinobot and pull him away from falling on top of the ice structures. More like redirecting his fall than actually keeping him up, despite his size Jetfire isn't -that- strong! But the appropriate application of force and momentum should hopefully be enough. When Jetfire bulrushes Sludge out of the way, deftly redirecting the Dinobot’s fall. Jetfire underestimates his own strength, or the angle, as Sludge rolls over, going down a slight slope, but it’s enough to give him some speed. He’s now become a Dinobot Snowball and is quickly approaching Steeljaw, Swoop, and Slag! Fortress Maximus looks up from his work in surprise as he realizes that the bees are prodding Sludge. Being a (technical) pacifist pansy, he objects verbally, "Well hey now, violence is unnecessary--- oh oh! Watch out!" The large Headmaster attempts to put himself in between the Dinobot and his Nepsian building sculpture but Jetfire proves just how speedy he can be. The Air Guardian is within range before Fortress Maximus realizes it and the crisis adverted. Well, just in case for another to occur! Well that went wel... oops, didn't see the slope there in his rush to get the Dinobot clear. And by that point Jetfire's own momentum carries him along. Though being a bit lighter than Sludge due his airframe alternate mode, the air guardian ends up just sailing over the ledge entirely and crashing to the ground somewhere below in a cloud of snow and ice ... Jetfire spits some snow out as the cloud settles, having landing on his shoulders (propped up that way by his booster pack), and looks 'up'... just in time to see the Sludge-ball rolling down towards them. "... Oh bother..." Slag sprints forward, getting between Jetfire and the Sludge-ball. "Me Slag save you clumsy mechs!" he rears back as Sludge gets closer and swats the Sludge-ball with his tail as if hitting a ball with a bat. "Nice save, Jetfire." Steeljaw says, a little bit too soon. Eyes grow wide, watching the massive 'dinoball' rolling right for him. He crouches down a bit closer to the ice, and tearing his claws through it, throws himself off to one side hard with all of his might. Which simply sends him tumbling back into the snow drift he vacated not too long before. Even if it wasn't for any reason now. The Snowball of Sludge continues to roll, gaining more and more snow, as it approaches Slag. But the Flamethrower manages to redirect him with a mighty tail slap. Sludge is beginning to feel like a pinball machine, being bounced around like this. He continues to roll in this new direction until he hits a tree, which loses all of its snow as the impact rattles the bark and the leaves. These bees have to have come from somewhere, and when Slag struck the ball, for the briefest of moments, there was the combined weight of two Dinobots in the same spot. It was enough for the ground to give way, revealing a small, but Dinobot-sized cavern. Inside, it is actually the hive, filled with honey and even yet more bees! And they aren’t too happy. Jetfire manages to tumble himself over and get back onto his feet.... only to see what the Sludge-ball uncovered. "... I think now would be a good point to vacate the premesis in an expedient fashion." Muttering, Steeljaw pokes his head out from the snowdrift. Again. But this time there is much less snow covering him, so he can pull himself out much easier. "... Normally I wouldn't be so hasty to pull out, but this time I think I'll agree with Jetfire." Fortress Maximus gets up from his work and begins investigating the situation out of concern of his fellow Autobots, "Is everyone alright?" He begins approaching the others, eventually taking notice of the Dinobot-sized caverns in the earth below, "Oh.. yes. I have to agree with your assestment there." The Headmaster leader points a finger towards the distant horizon, in a heroic fashion no less. "Autobots! Reeeetreat!" Well now, maybe retreat is too strong of a word. Tactfully advancing in an alternate direction would've been more appropriate. Yes. "Tactical withdrawl to a location with non-threatening alternate lifeforms would be a more apt discription of the maneunver, sir," Jetfire replies to Maximus with a faint hint of sarcastic humor. But there's not really time for making jokes right now, as he grabs the smaller and slower lion out of the snowbank. "Sludge, Slag, com'n. Better to save your strength for smashing someone that deserves it, like Decepticons." With Steeljaw in arm he starts dashing back towards the Manor. It's practice for the foot race tomorrow! Yes, exactly. The Bees swarm out of their hive, bolstering the strength of the ones that had been swarming Fortress Maximus. Oh, they are angry. Of that there can be no doubt. Stinging, using their cattle-prod like devices, they begin to leave a number of welts on all the Autobots, but none more so than Fortress Maximus, who was already surrounded by the bees before their hive was uncovered. No wonder they wanted him to complete a city, it could serve as their above ground home. Sludge, for his part, shakes off the effects of smacking into the tree. He’s a bit dazed, disoriented even, but he rises to his feet, and takes off. Why run when he can fly, and he hopes, higher than the bees. Flying in the same direction as Jetfire runs, the Dinobot asks, “Why you Jetfire no transform?” Slag grunts and follows Sludge, transforming and flying out. He lands near where Fortress Maximus is. "NOW can we smash bugs?" Fortress Maximus shrugs slightly need, appreciating the humour despite the circumstances, "In oh so many words, yes, Jetfire!" He begins waving his left arm back and forth around his main body to discourage the bees from getting any closer but to no avail, they remain persistent! "Make sure to do it non-lethally, Slag! We don't want this to become a diplomatic incident! OW!" The bees are attacking Fortress Maximus now, leaving behind visible signs of damage all over his body frame! Good thing he has a visor over his optics. Jetfire gahs as the ice-bees start trying to 'sting' them as they run. "Because then they could get inside of me and unintentially get transported somewhere else and instigate a hostile takeover of another planetary location, that's why! Now move it!" Slag shrugs, "Me Slag don't know how to do it that way! Me Slag just know smash or no smash." Sludge comments, “Then you Slag run, run like Blurr!” If they run fast enough, maybe the Bees will not be able to keep up, or maybe they’ll worry more about their colony, which seems to have lost many of its protectors to the Autobot hunt. Sludge seems to be doing well up in the air, he flies high enough that it’s too cold, even for ice bees. The bees don’t seem to respond well to threats or intimidation. On this world, they are kings. When Steeljaw roars at the swarm as it approaches he and Jetfire, one of them continues to fly, stinging Steeljaw’s tongue, and uh oh, it seems to have gone inside. One ice bee can’t be that much harm? They aren’t asexual, are they? "Let's hope not very far!" Jetfire replies to Steeljaw. He's mostly just gritting and bearing getting stung, not wanting to aggrivate the ice-bees any farther than they already were. Fortunately he's got a long stride with those big legs of his, with an added burst of speed here and there from his dashing veniers. The Manor is just a few ridges away.... "Don't -ow- antaganize them farther!" Should of brought that electroshocker he was working on, it'd make a great bug zapper! Slag follows the rest of them by flying, flying, flying away. The bees are about an one inch long, black, grey, and light blue. If not for their size and colour, they would appear to be fairly similar to Terran bees, except that they also seem to have more humanlike faces, and carry some kind of pitchfork-cattle prod device, and of course, they seem to be highly intelligent for an insectoid species. They even have verbal communication, not that any of the Autobots present have been able to decipher it. Not if Steel has anything to say about it. Despite his tongue swelling, he spits the thing out. Then CLANK. That's the sound of Steel's jaws clamping shut before the bee can get in again. Not on it, but the hydrolics of his jaws are fast and immovable. "Oh, thath it. Jetfire! Hold on tighter to me!" Steeljaw rumbles up at the air guardian, his voice slightly slurred from the sting on his tongue. He then transforms into his tape form. And immediately begins to spark and crackle, electromagnitizing himself. Did someone mention bug zapper? Sludge tries to fly away to safety, though he is sad that his Ultra Magnus ice statue will be lost. And oh no, Slag’s Wheeljack head. Returning abruptly, he dives back down, flying to try and pick it up. It seems that there weren’t many bees there, and when he turns back, the swarm splits off, many going after the large Dinobot, who picks up Wheeljack’s head, and tries to fly straight up, hoping to avoid getting stung too much before he can link up with his comrades. Scattershot descends from the sky, his trajectority indicating he most likely came from the Corscate Canyon. A concentration of Autobot ID signatures drew his attention, so he headed this way, hoping to find some excitement in the downtime between big Olympics events. From the looks of things he's not going to be disappointed. Fortress Maximus continues to tactfully withdraw, behind the rest of the Autobots. Yes he's a fast runner, a surprising fact despite his unnaturally large size, but the first one out of a hot zone does not a great leader make. The Headmaster leader continues to take stings after stings, "Ow, ow! Isn't there a short cut or bodies of water that -aren't- frozen that we can take cover in, Jetfire?" Fortress Maximus did bring a map, but too bad it was also on the very datachip that he had given Grimlock earlier. Who'da thunk that he'd be regretting something so harmless? The Bees that had been on Fortress Maximus and Slag begin to turn back, gathering up in numbers as they surround Jetfire, Steeljaw, one being spat out, and curiously, it seems that two other bees take the injured one back towards the hive. As Sludge descends again, he finds himself caught up, and tries to fly away, “Wait, Sludge coming too!” And he has the prized Wheeljack sculpted head made by his friend and dino-buddy Slag! Jetfire lets Steeljaw drop into his hand as the feline transforms and wards the bees away with his electromagnetic field. "Don't ask me, you're the one with the map!" he calls back to Fort Max. ".. Okay, forget what I said earlier about transforming being a bad idea." Though at least thanks to Steeljaw there's less bees buzzing around him. He vaults off an outcropping to get some air and transforms, dropping the cassette into his cockpit admist the mechanical alterations and just outright outrunning the insect fliers. Save for he's not running away. He pulls up and loops over to angle back towards the others, firing off.. something from his munitions bay. It turns out to just be a couple of smoke and flak bombs though, to just blind and confuse the ice bees as make shift 'bug bombs' instead of actually harm them, so the others can get clear. After which he banks to the side and turns tailfin to do the same. Jetfire says, "Don't worry Maximus, those are totally non-lethal!" Scattershot flies by high overhead. He'd love to contribute, but well...he doesn't actually carry any 'non-lethal' weapons. <> Slag follows along, in the same boat of not being able to deal out anything non-lethal. Fortress Maximus watches as the smoke and flak bombs drops to the ground and ducks straight into the gases as it begins dispersing throughout the area, "Great job, Jetfire! That ought to keep them off of us long enough for us to get out!" When the Headmaster leader hears Scattershot's comments from overhead he makes the best of it with humour of his own, "Oh, I'm a firm believer in a the 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy, Scattershot! Which direction is it to Utopia Manor?" He asks, now that he's smack in the middle of the blinding gas and only has his internal compass to guide him. Scattershot banks ponderously and then accelerates in the direction of Utopia Manor. <> He seems to be enjoying the plight of the big Autobots tremendously. Once Steeljaw is in Jetfire's cockpit, he stops transmitting the electromagnetic pulses. Don't want to short out any of Jetfire's electronics, after all. But at least he's safe, plopped on top of one of the chairs. "Who ever heard of ice bees, anyway?" A indicator sign lights up within Fortress Maximus' navigational systems as it receives Scattershot's nav marker's information upload, "Nice! Keep heading north, everyone! We're right at the Utopia Manor!" The large Headmaster leader continues to run as fast as his legs can carry him, eventually dropping into Utopia Manor. Jetfire comes in for a landing a few moments later, letting Steeljaw out of his cockpit before transforming himself. "... I just can't get a break when it comes to snow -anything-." "I can't believe we're running from bees," Mutters Steeljaw, as he unfolds again into his lion form to take up the rest of the chair he was in. Slag lands with the others and crosses arms across his chest, "Me Slag finally have story for Kup!" Fortress Maximus sighs, petting the various wounds he's picked up during their retreat, "I'm starting to wonder if there's something terribly wrong with Kup's textbook intergalactic greeting."